Posted on 11/25/2015 11:29:14 AM PST by BenLurkin
If it was going for demonic, I vote, “Arrived!”
One of the disease vectors for Chaga’s in TX is possums. The anal sacs of the varmints is a reservoir for it
The primary wildlife reservoirs for Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States include opossums, raccoons, armadillos, squirrels, woodrats, and mice. Opossums are particularly important as reservoirs, because the parasite can complete its life cycle in the anal glands of this animal without having to re-enter the insect vector. Recorded prevalence of the disease in opossums in the U.S. ranges from 8.3% to 37.5%.
Studies on raccoons in the Southeast have yielded infection rates ranging from 47% to as low as 15.5%. Armadillo prevalence studies have been described in Louisiana, and range from a low of 1.1% to 28.8%. Additionally, small rodents, including squirrels, mice, and rats, are important in the sylvatic transmission cycle because of their importance as bloodmeal sources for the insect vectors. A Texas study revealed 17.3% percent T. cruzi prevalence in 75 specimens representing four separate small rodent species.
Box elder bugs look similar, but they aren’t Chaga’s bugs.
People in the US, at least in TX, get it, too. It’s not tested for routinely, and sometimes the effects are misdiagnosed as something else such as heart disease or cold.
I know there have been cases here in my central TX county.
I shoot possums and raccoons routinely because they are vectors, and they like to take up residence under, and in the walls of my house.
Crappy autocorrect. I typed COPD, which autocorrect changed to cold.
I could be wrong. It’s happened before.
I was the interloping ‘yankee’ and that’s what I was told they were.
Those bugs can kiss my ass.
They do call box elder bugs kissy bugs or kissing bugs because they crawl all over each other, and mate a bunch. They usually come out, especially around dead leaves on a warm sunny day following a cool spell. They are black and orange, too. They just aren’t the ones who are the Chaga’s bug/kissing bugs.
From the article you posted:
“The impact of Chagas disease is not limited to the rural areas in Latin America in which vectorborne transmission occurs. Large-scale population movements from rural to urban areas of Latin America and to other regions of the world have increased the geographic distribution and changed the epidemiology of Chagas disease.”
So, looks like letting in unlimited numbers of unvetted southern 3rd world peasants brings in their 3rd world bugs and diseases with them.
Bugs Bunny was not aimed at kids at all.
Damm . . . we just had most of that for Thanksgiving.
Kidding aside, thanks for the information. Gives pause to those who were planning on trapping in a SHTF scenario.
Yup...no doubt a piece of information known and ignored by those in power.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.